PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT ? ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT The administrative functions of the Center will operate under the aegis of the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute (CLP) at Northwestern University (NU). The contact principal investigator and co-director is Thomas O?Halloran, PhD, who is Director of the Chemistry of the Life Processes Institute with appointments in Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience. He also oversees the CLP Quantitative Bioelement Imaging Center. Dr. O?Halloran?s extensive experience in leading transdisciplinary, team science research programs makes him ideally suited to lead the Resource, along with the Center?s Co-Director and PI/PD, Dr. Chris Jacobsen. Dr. Jacobsen holds dual appointments at Argonne National Laboratories (ANL), where he is an Argonne Distinguished Fellow, and at NU, where he is a professor of physics and astronomy. Dr. Jacobsen?s history of successful development of new methods in x-ray microscopy complements Dr. O?Halloran?s expertise in the chemistry and biological function of inorganic elements and leadership experience. The faculty and staff of the Administrative Core will: (a) Provide leadership and administrative support to the development and application of leading technologies that will significantly impact the scientific community; (b) Develop and implement operating procedures and policies that ensure appropriate access to Resource instrumentation and expertise; (c) Evaluate Resource progress on a timely basis and allocate resources judiciously; and (d) Achieve sustainable community access to Resource-developed technologies. The Resource co-directors will implement an External Advisory Committee (EAC) that will oversee evaluation of Technology Research & Development (TR&D) projects and the turnover of Driving Biological Projects (DBPs). Resource administrators will collect and report overall Resource metrics to the EAC to facilitate assessment of Resource performance, opportunities and challenges, and strategic planning. The Resource co-directors will also convene an Executive Committee that will be responsible for making recommendations to the EAC regarding DBP and Collaboration & Service project selection, allocation of resources, and strategic allocation of Resource funding. The Executive Committee will be responsible for implementing the decisions of the EAC. Technologies developed by the Resource will be sustained and remain accessible to the entire scientific community after federal funding has ceased. The ICP-MS based technologies and photoacoustic microscopy under development will be operated as new service lines within established core facilities that operate under the administrative umbrella of CLP. X-ray fluorescence technologies will be maintained by the APS unit at Argonne National Laboratories, and made available to the scientific community via no-cost peer-reviewed user proposals.